Or, Subtitled: “The chain carriers were often kin to the person for whom the land was being surveyed” (Judy G. Russell, “A Matter of Measure,“ Legal Genealogy)
I have posted previously about an elusive ancestor named James Brooks, who died prior to 2 November 1779 in Frederick County, Virginia, when his widow Mary and son Thomas presented his will to court for probate.[1] As the posting I’ve just linked states, the court responded to Mary and Thomas’ motion to have James Brooks’ will probated by granting them a certificate “for obtaining a probate there of [sic] in due form.”
That is, the will was not probated and recorded on 2 November 1779, but Mary and Thomas were instructed to have it probated “in due form.” The court minutes state explicitly that after witness Meredith Helm proved the will, it was “Ordered to be for further proof.” One would expect this set of court minutes to be followed by another set not far down the road showing the will definitively proven with Mary and Thomas obtaining probate and having it recorded. (To read the rest of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)
BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS 